"It's a way to get that audience involved," Frankel said, adding, "I think this is the beginning of a great new wave of doing festivals."

Frankel will introduce each program.

"I have to remember to start each program talking to the webcast audience, who are there, but not there," she said.

"We have made the webcasting enrollment as easy as possible for people," Frankel said. "They go to the website, find the webcast button on the home page and follow the prompts."

Frankel said the webcast fees are modest: $7 per panel, $12 for key conversations with Philippe Petit (some seats remain) and Cheryl Strayed (which is sold out) or "the whole shebang for $50."

Frankel said she knew from the outset that Joe Donovan's (WAMC-Albany) conversation with Strayed, author of the memoir, "Wild," and the novel, "Tiny Beautiful Things, Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar," would sell out.

"I kept telling people to sign up, and now they're sorry," Frankel said. "We're not being coy - the program is absolutely sold out."

Frankel said a panel, featuring some of the best late-night comedy writers has been added to the line-up. It will take place Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

"Abbe Aronson, our publicist, has a connection to J.R. Havlan, who writes for 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,'" Frankel said.

"He told Abbe he'd 'pull something together' and he has for the panel 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Woodstock!" Frankel said. "The best, most brilliant late-night writers are coming up to talk about comedy writing."

Frankel said some of the most innovative and really funny comedy comes to television after 11 p.m.

"Four of the best writers for late night comedy will be at the festival," she said.

Frankel will introduce and speak with Petit, best known for his 1974 tight-rope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, whose book, "Why Knot?" will be released the day before the festival begins. A film about him, "Man on Wire" won an Academy Award.

She said Petit, who lives in Ulster County, has made the festival his second stop on the national book release tour.

"I was watching his (1974) walk and quaking, like the rest of the world. One misstep ... He's done what no one else has ever done or will ever do. And, now here I am in conversation with him," Frankel said.

"See these shoes," Frankel said, pointing to her sneakers with no laces. "All my life I've been told, 'Tie your shoe. Your shoe is untied.'"

"But, Philippe has promised me, by the end of our conversation, that I will be able to tie my shoes. I'm holding him to that," she said.

"The festival," Frankel said, changing the subject, "is really mis-named. We should have called it a readers' festival because that's who comes. Readers.

"And, people are reading more than ever - on their phones, their iPads. I see people just waiting for one thing or another, pull out a book and read. Reading and books aren't going anywhere," she said.

Frankel said even though the festival has grown, in some ways, it's smaller.

"We learned from the past three years. With 52 people on the roster, it was like trying to herd puppies," she said.

"And, people had to make hard choices among the panels they could attend. This year, none of the panels overlap or compete with each other. We set a limit of moderator and three authors per panel, and people ostensibly could attend them all," Frankel said.

As authors, dates, times and locations began to fall serendipitously into place, Frankel said, "This next week is golden. The hard work has been done and we're now just waiting to open.

"For Ken Schneidman, Abbe Aronson, Jan Sosnowitz, and Jackie Kellachan of The Golden Notebook, who've partnered with me, it's been like pushing a huge boulder up a really, really long hill for months. About two weeks ago, we got to the top. And, now it's a huge, sleigh-ride down into opening night," she said.

The fourth annual Woodstock Writers Festival - Reading, Writing, Revelry - will be held April 18 to 21, with most events at the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, 36 Tinker St., Woodstock.

Workshops are held in various authors' homes in the area. Other events and locations on the website.